Milligan HIST 430 Mid TermI. Essays The Beginning of the Tudor Dynasty, 1485- 1509 Who was Richard III, and why was he vulnerable to a challenge to his right to rule? Who was Henry of Richmond, and on what basis could he claim the throne? Given the difference between these two mens claims, why did Henry of Richmond manage to win so much support? Richard III (1452-1485) was the third son of Richard, Duke of York, (1441-1460) and Cecily Neville (1415-1495), and the younger brother to Edward IV (1442-1483), King of England (r. 1461-1470 and 1471-1483) and George, Duke of Clarence (1449-1478). He was born in Northamptonshire, England on October 2nd, 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle. Upon the ascension of his brother Edward to the English Throne as King Edward IV in March of 1461, Richard was made Duke of Gloucester at the tender age of 8 years old and sent to live with his cousin Richard Neville (1428-1471), 16th Earl of Warwick, (a.k.a. the Kingmaker) in Yorkshire to begin his formal education as a nobleman. When Henry VI (1421-1471), ousted during one of his many bouts of insanity, came back to power in 1470, the young Richard fled with his brother to Europe to return a year later as the Vanguard Commander during the Battle of Barnet, April 14th, 1471, and the Battle of Tewkesbury, May 4th, 1471, during which the Earl of Warwick (Barnet) and the Lancastrian heir to the English throne Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (1453-1471) (Tewkesbury) died. Henry VI would